State responds to safety needs of Old Route 115 in Ross Township

Saturday

Jan 15, 2011 at 12:01 AMJan 15, 2011 at 5:37 PM

In light of two crashes this week on Old Route 115 in Ross Township, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is looking at some steps that can be taken to help improve traffic safety on that stretch of road.

ANDREW SCOTT

Following two crashes this week on Old Route 115 in Ross Township, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is exploring ways to improve safety on that stretch of road.

"We're not exactly sure what the problem is, whether it's speeding or the road's ability to handle a capacity of more than 13,000 vehicles traveling on it per day," PennDOT spokesman Sean Brown said Friday. "Grading or redoing the road would be too costly a project at this time, so we're looking at some lower-cost options."

These include talking to Ross and Hamilton townships about putting up additional speed limit signs, repainting the center yellow line, brush-cutting to improve sight lines for motorists turning out onto the road and installing digital speed limit sign trailers to record the speeds of passing vehicles, Brown said.

The Pocono Record, relying on a radar gun, has reported that motorists have been clocked going an average of 48 mph in 35 mph zones.

The speed limit ranges from 35 mph to 55 mph through various sections of Old Route 115.

The two most recent reported crashes on Old Route 115 happened Monday and Wednesday.

The more serious crash occurred shortly after 1 p.m. Wednesday, when Louis Nemeth, 75, of Saylorsburg, was driving a 1998 Dodge Ram south near Scott Fields in the Ross Common area, south of where Old 115 becomes the Easton-Wilkes-Barre Turnpike, state police said.

Nemeth's vehicle left the southbound lane and went off the northbound side of the road, hitting a tree.

Nemeth was flown to St. Luke's Hospital in Bethlehem. Police said he will be cited for driving too fast for road conditions.

The Monday crash happened at 6:35 p.m., about 250 yards south of Anchorage Road.

Driver Eric M. Fisher, 21, and infant passenger Makenzie Fisher, both of Stroudsburg, were heading north in a 1996 Honda Civic. A 2000 Volkswagen GTI, driven by Kevin J. Scaggs II, 21, of Sciota, passed the Honda on the shoulder, sideswiping the Honda, and then fled the scene, police said.

No one was injured, and police have not said if Scaggs has been or will be charged.

Some Ross Township residents living on or near Old Route 115 said crashes do occur there, but that doesn't necessarily make it any more dangerous than any other road with sharp curves and steep hills.

Residents blamed crashes mostly on driver error.

"People don't know how to drive, they're in a hurry and they're texting," said Nancy Stafford, who lives near Old Route 115. "People have never done the speed limit."

A 50 mph speed limit sign stands by where the foot of Roger Sadler's driveway meets Old Route 115.

"If the speed limit is 50, that means people are doing 60 or 65," Sadler said. "The road, especially this area where it slopes and crests, doesn't lend itself to slowing down."

Diane Gill worries about her children — ages 13 and 11 — being near the road without her present.

"People fly up and down this road," Gill said. "They disregard the school buses when they're stopped with their stop signs out and their lights flashing. You really have to be careful, especially when you're coming down the hill in the winter when it's icy."

While residents said they haven't really paid attention to how often they see a police presence on the road, Sgt. Brian Cawley of the Lehighton barracks said state police do in fact patrol Old Route 115.

"I don't have figures readily available on the frequency of crashes, speeding or other traffic violations or how many tickets or citations we've issued, but we are out there," he said. "We've been in contact with PennDOT on what can be done to help prevent further crashes."